Problem: Vanessa bought a new backpack at the store when they were having a $50\%$ off sale. If the regular price of the backpack was $$84$, how much did Vanessa pay with the discount?
First, find the amount of the discount by multiplying the original price of the of the item by the discount. $$84$ $\times$ $50\%$ $=$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $50\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{50}{100}$ which is also equal to $50 \div 100$ $50 \div 100 = 0.50$ Multiply the discount you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of money saved. $0.50$ $\times$ $$84$ $ = $ $$42.00$ Subtract the discount you just found from the original price to get the final price Vanessa paid. $$84$ $-$ $$42.00$ $ = $ $$42.00$ Vanessa paid $$42.00$ for the backpack.